This is a guest post by Lior who is a web consultant sharing writing tips in this post. Follow him on Twitter @liorl
If you have the aspirations to be a great blog writer it is really not all that difficult, but there are ground rules that you need to follow in order to be successful at it.
There are several common mistakes that new writers often make, and if you avoid them it can mean the difference of you being an average writer or a great writer.
Being Distracted
If your computer that you are utilizing for your writing is set up in the family rec. room which happens to be the hub of your residential activity, there is no way you will be able to focus on what you are writing.
Unable To Concentrate
If you are dealing with personal issues which are not allowing you to have a free mind with your writing, then you are going to produce inferior work because you are not giving it your best efforts.
Not Feeling Well
Trying to write when you are unwell or tired can be a disaster. Your body cannot function at its best. Not only will your writing not have an interesting flow to it, you will make several grammar and perhaps spelling errors. Even if you attempt to proofread your work while in this state, chances are you will miss something.
Multi Tasking is Not a Good Idea
If you are trying to do several things at once and one of these writing, then it is the writing that will most likely suffer the most. Every time you leave your writing to attend to something else you are breaking your train of thought. It does not just return automatically when you sit down to start writing again.
Don’t Attempt to Write When you are Rushed
If you are committed to having to go somewhere and this means you must rush to complete your article or blog, then you are far better to put it aside until you can allot the proper time for it. If you don’t, the content will not likely be what you were hoping for or perhaps the presentation will be inferior.
Don’t Take on More Than you Can Handle
Writing blogs and articles can be most stimulating and enjoyable. When it becomes a burden though because the workload is too much, then it will show in your writing. Your content will portray a “just let’s get this done”, type of attitude.
Don’t Mislead People with Inaccurate Information
No matter what you are writing, be sure that it is as accurate as possible. This most often means doing some research, and you really should keep track of the sources that you use for your material, even if you don’t list these in your post.
Don’t Create a Haphazard Working Atmosphere
If you are going to be writing articles or blogs, it doesn’t matter if you are doing it as a hobby or a business, be sure to approach it professionally. Obviously you are writing because you have something informative to say. If you want people to believe in your writing then you must be sure to come across as being credible. If you are writing with the television going, or the music is blaring, there is no way that you are going to remain focused during the duration of your writing.
There are just a few of the don’ts when it comes to article and blog writing. Hope these help with your writing efforts.
Good write up. really there are great numbers of factors that can affect productivity in an office and one of them come from the environment itself. Your monitor should be at or just slightly below your eye level, so that you are not tilting your head up or down to look at it. Your desk and chair should be at the right height for you. A poor fit can give you headaches, back and shoulder strain, and poor circulation in your legs.
I’m glad you touched on Multitasking because, despite what you think about how well you can do with multiple items, you’re really just distracting yourself.
You really need to set a priority list of what needs to be done and what’s just fluff – go after the top of your list first and everything else will fall in line.
you know what….i am a victim of atleast 5 points above…..
and trying my best to concentrate more….and give more quality posts to my readers…..
great post mate….
Don’t know for other bloggers, but distractions and lack of concentration are without doubt the biggest problems for me. It often happens just few minutes after starting to work on an article and sometimes I even need to start all over again. You really need to free your mind of anything except what you are writing, otherwise problems will follow. I tend to close all working programs, browsers, etc. and this definitely has a positive effect.
Writing is always a creative task. If you have the depth knowledge of subject then you can write well. Always try to stick with topic and try to write related to theme.
I believe one of the most important points you make is to give accurate information by dong your research. It amazes me how much people believe just because it is on the net!
Before I publish a post; especially if it is giving out straight forward facts, I always check and cross reference to make sure that what I am going to give my readers is both accurate and up to date.
Patricia Perth Australia
Well Done very good list 🙂 I believe it is multi-tasking that is my worst friend 🙁
Writing a successful post means you have to be fully focused. Your mind is clear and that means you dont have to be carry over by your problems and personal issues. Multi tasking is also not an option if your writing a post since you really need to focus to produce a successful post. Doing multi tasking while writing will just lead you to nothing. Great post! 🙂
The main reason why I think I cannot produce a valuable article would be if I am trying to rush on finishing it. Writing takes time and it takes effort to not be distracted by doing other stuff while writing. Most writers – whether newbies or experienced – do encounter these kinds of reasons why they do not succeed in writing a post that is worth reading for others. Thanks for sharing this!
well to keep short and simple, its all about getting focused at all. Before I used to write articles while doing other things and that lead to me publishing poorly created ones. Now, I just open a word processor, have it on fullscreen and nothing else.